La Femme Alexandra - 'Looking For Nikita' Excerpt
by GunBunnyCentral
Summary: Alex goes looking for an absentee Nikita - and finds something she never expected.


Notes: This is an excerpt from an AU I've dubbed _La Femme Alexandra_: Alexandra Udinov, framed for the murder of a police officer and sentenced to life in prison, is inducted into a secret espionage program called Division. Her trainer and handler is a mysterious woman named Nikita Mears, whose past is every bit as troubled as Alex's own.

This particular scene would be from the Season Three premiere, entitled 'Looking For Nikita.'

{*****}

Alex decided she had the wrong place almost immediately - a boring, cookie cutter (if upscale) New Jersey suburb was hardly the kind of place she would picture Nikita living.

Still, Division had done stranger things, and she didn't really have the luxury of going back to double-check her stolen intel. Percy and Amanda were trying to kill her, and only Nikita could help her figure out how to stop them.

Expecting only a brief conversation confirming that she had the wrong house, Alex knocked on the door and turned to stare out at the street. This would have been so much easier if she could have just called Nikita on her cell phone...

The door opened a moment later, and a masculine voice started speaking before Alex could turn back to face the door. "Yes?"

The guy was pretty much what Alex had expected - nice, clean-cut, cute in a suburban dad kinda way with dark hair and hazel eyes.

"Hi." Alex smiled sheepishly, pulling out her best ditzy coed impression. "I'm looking for a friend of mine, but I think I got the address messed up or something."

Mr. Nice Guy smiled back, apparently also going by the title Mr. Genuinely Helpful Guy. "Who are you looking for? I know everyone in the neighborhood."

Alex jumped a little as a little girl, maybe four or five years old, ran up out of nowhere and wrapped herself around the man's leg. There was something bizarrely familiar about her, but Alex couldn't quite figure out what. "Daddy, come on! It's your turn!"

Mr. Suburban Dad grinned at his daughter. "I'll be right there, sweetie. Go find Mommy - it's her turn next."

He turned back to Alex as the little girl ran back into the house. "I'm sorry about that. You were looking for -?"

Alex grinned, turning up the sheepish as she gestured with her cell phone. "No, really, it's okay. I'll just go give my friend a call and check the address. Thanks, though!"

She turned to leave, smiling a little despite herself as she heard the little girl's voice again. "Mommy, Mommy, can we go to the park now?"

"In a little bit. We have to finish the game first." Nikita's distinctive voice carried perfectly from within the house, and Alex couldn't keep herself from freezing in her tracks.

She turned back, not sure what she'd see - not that anything could really have prepared Alex for the scene in front of her. Nikita was holding the little girl in her arms, spinning her around as the the little girl laughed - the little girl who, Alex now realized, was so damned familiar because she was almost the spitting image of her mother.

"Nikita?!" The name slipped out before Alex could stop herself, and there was no hiding the relief and happiness in her voice.

Nikita, recognizing Alex's voice immediately, froze in place as she just stared at the last person she'd apparently expected to see. There was a long, ridiculously awkward moment that neither Nikita nor Alex could break as they both stood there dumbfounded - it was terribly amateurish for a pair of trained Division agents, but there wasn't really any help for it.

It was so amateurish, in fact, that even Mr. Suburban Dad could tell something was wrong. "Honey? Do you know this girl?"

Nikita moved to stand beside him as Alex gave them both another sheepish grin. "It's been a really long time - you probably don't remember me..."

Nikita finally shook off her paralysis, giving a credible imitation of surprised recognition. "Alex? Little Alex? Oh my god..."

"Hello." Alex gave a sheepish wave to match her sheepish grin as she played along.

"Go inside, Hayley. It's cold out." Nikita set her daughter down, then turned back to Alex. "What are you doing here?"

Hayley's father was still eyeing them a little suspiciously, obviously picking up on the faint note of accusation in Nikita's tone, but Alex continued helping to sell the 'happy surprise' angle. "I'm sorry for just dropping in. I found out where you were and wanted to surprise you..."

Nikita faked a huge smile as she pretended to suddenly 'get' what had happened. "Oh! You must have talked to Aunt Rita! She never said anything."

"I asked her not to," Alex temporized, playing off Nikita's improvised backstory. "She did tell me to let you know she's doing great, and that she sends her love."

"I haven't seen Alex here in years!" Nikita explained to her... husband, apparently, judging by the wedding set on the hand she placed on his arm.

"Yeah," Alex agreed. "It feels like it's been forever."

Nikita put her free hand to her forehead, as if aggravated with herself. "God, where are my manners? Alex, this is my husband Daniel."

"Hey. Nice to meet you." It was all Alex could do to force the words to sound normal, with 'my husband' still echoing in her ears.

"You too," Daniel replied, genuinely polite even though he was obviously still waiting for an explanation.

Nikita linked her arm through Daniel's. "Alex is... a cousin, I guess, through my foster mother Caroline."

That seemed to immediately put Daniel at ease, as all trace of suspicion left his face. "Why didn't you just say so? Come on in, it's freezing out there."

Hayley called from inside the house, so Daniel went back inside as Alex pushed past Nikita. He was still watching them both, though, so Nikita stopped and pulled Alex in for a hug. "It's so good to see you again!"

As they hugged, Nikita hissed in Alex's ear. "What are you doing here, Alex?"

"I know, I was so happy when Aunt Rita gave me your address!" Alex replied out loud for Daniel's benefit. Then she dropped her voice so only Nikita would hear. "I need your help."

Alex moved past Nikita and on into the house without looking back, but she didn't have to see Nikita to know what the other woman was doing. She was scanning the neighborhood for threats, expression not at all happy, as she closed and locked the door...


End file.
